Sermon for Pentecost 11, August 13, 2023
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of
Jesus our Lord. Amen.
1 Kings 19:9-18 9He came to a cave and spent the
night there. Then the word of the Lord
suddenly came to him, saying, “Why are you here, Elijah?” 10He said, “I have been very
zealous for the Lord, the God of Armies, but the people of Israel have
abandoned your covenant. They have torn
down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and
they are seeking to take my life.” 11Then
the Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord,
for the Lord is passing by.” Then a great
and powerful wind tore the mountains and shattered rocks before the Lord, but
the Lord was not in the wind. After the
wind came an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12After the earthquake there was a
fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
After the fire there was a soft, whispering voice. 13When Elijah heard it, he wrapped
his face in his cloak, and he went out and stood at the entrance to the
cave. Then a voice came to him and said,
“Why are you here, Elijah?” 14He
said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of Armies, but the people
of Israel have abandoned your covenant.
They have torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the
sword. I alone am left, and they are
seeking to take my life.” 15Then
the Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came and go to the Wilderness of
Damascus. When you get there, you are to
anoint Hazael as king over Aram. 16You
will also anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel and Elisha son of
Shaphat from Abel Meholah as prophet in your place. 17Whoever escapes the sword of
Hazael, Jehu will kill, and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will
kill. 18But I have preserved
in Israel seven thousand whose knees have not bent to Baal and whose lips have
not kissed him.”
(EHV)
With
the Lord, you are never alone.
Dear friends in Christ,
“I
alone am left,” complained the prophet to the Lord. After years of faithfully serving as a
spokesman for the Almighty, Elijah felt near the end of his rope. He had diligently followed God’s
instructions. He had boldly spoken with
the authorities at the Lord’s behest only to be rejected and despised. Indeed, Elijah had lived in hiding and exile in
the wilderness for an extended period of time, so finally, when the Lord
allowed a powerful demonstration before Israel that the God Elijah served is,
in fact, the one, true, powerful God of their forefathers, Elijah expected a
glorious revival among the Israelites, but instead, the king’s wife, Jezebel,
put a death sentence over his head. So,
Elijah ran, and the Lord found him in this cave and asked, “Why are you
here, Elijah?”
In his fearful weakness, Elijah failed to
understand how the Lord was working, and how the Lord generally works. In his zeal for the Lord, Elijah had grown
impatient. He wanted it all to end.
Such impatience is not unheard of in our times,
though it often goes unrecognized. You
might see it in a bullied teenager, who after a certain amount of torment gives
up on trusting the Lord or his family to protect him. Far too often, some of those troubled
children assume they are all alone against the world and end their lives to
stop the loneliness.
You might see it in a married couple who let
disagreements fester until neither is speaking with the other, and eventually
the loneliness takes over and one or the other cheats or leaves, and the
injured spouse is left all alone wondering why God allows such behavior.
It is not uncommon at all in our times for the
elderly to feel this all alone in the world with their children grown up and,
perhaps, moved away and busy with their lives.
Now, the parents who raised the children and sacrificed so much to help
them grow find themselves mostly alone, with perhaps even their Christian faith
rejected. Instead of having the joy of
gathering around God’s Word and partaking of the Sacrament with the ones they
love the most, loneliness cuts to the heart.
Pastors, too, can feel this loneliness as they
watch the ones they baptized, or taught with patience and love, flee from the
Savior who gave His life on a cross, enticed into following the idols of the
world. We see it when we preach
faithfully what God says, and so many react in disgust or indifference. No, Elijah was not alone in his
self-pity. It is a weakness that can come
upon any of us.
Yet, Elijah was wrong. He was wrong when he forgot that the Lord was
protecting him from Ahab and Jezebel’s wickedness, so Elijah had nothing to
fear from Jezebel’s wrath when her heathen prophets were destroyed. Elijah was also mistaken when he assumed that
God should continue demonstrating His power and authority in order to convince
the people of Israel to believe in Him.
This text shows us that With the Lord, you
are never alone. That doesn’t mean
that bad things won’t happen to God’s people in this life. It surely doesn’t mean that sinners in the
world will always listen to what the prophets have to say. Still, God will watch over His people, and in
the end, God’s goal isn’t to make this world perfect, but to take those He
calls to faith out of this wretched existence to a life of joy unending in the
glories of heaven.
Meanwhile, there at that
mountain cave, God shows us how He works to make believers in a world of
sinners. Elijah wrongly expected God to
win followers with force. Therefore, the
Lord showed the prophet three powerful, destructive forces, but the Lord was
not in those things. Instead, the Lord
came to Elijah in the “soft, whispering voice.” It is the same for all of us. Though many times, we may wish God would show
His power against our enemies, or perhaps demonstrate it to our friends and
loved ones, the reality remains that God works through the small, quiet voice
of the Means of Grace He has chosen to give salvation and forgiveness to those
who believe. Rather than saving souls
through works they do or through great displays of power, the Lord declares, “I
desire mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God, rather than burnt
offerings.” (Hosea 6:6) Furthermore,
He explains that “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message
comes through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)
Our God holds all the power of the universe in
His hands, but primarily, He allows this world to operate by the natural means He
put in place in the beginning while directing all things according to His plan
to save sinners. At various times, we
may struggle to understand why God does or doesn’t do certain things we think
He should. However, through Isaiah, we
read, “Certainly my plans are not your plans, and your ways are not my
ways,” declares the Lord. “Just as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my
plans are higher than your plans.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
You have heard me say it far too many times,
but this world is and always will be filled with trouble. It is likewise true that far too many people,
who should gladly believe the Christian faith, will wander away. Many will succumb to the temptations of
idolatry in the modern life. Yet, does
the Lord want us to despair? Does He
want us to quit in our mission to share God’s grace with those around us? Heaven forbid! He wants us to remember that With the Lord, you are never alone.
In effect, the Lord said to Elijah, “Okay, I
have heard your complaint, now go back to work.” And by the way, “I have preserved in
Israel seven thousand whose knees have not bent to Baal and whose lips have not
kissed him.” As all alone as Elijah
felt, with his faith in the Lord he was never alone. Though those ten northern tribes of Israel
had become so corrupted by idolatry, led primarily by their wicked rulers, God
still preserved a remnant among them, and though Elijah felt afraid for his
life, he was never in any real danger because the Lord kept His protecting care
over Elijah, and regardless, was preserving Elijah in the faith that would give
him everlasting life and glory in heaven.
God’s same loving care is over you and me. Through Word and Sacrament God builds our
faith and strengthens us to go out into this troubled world knowing that our
God, alone, determines the course of the world.
Our God, alone, has offered up His holy Son to take away our sins. Our God, alone, has lived among the people of
this world yet remained without sin so that we can be counted holy in the eyes
of our God. Our God promises, “Surely
I am with you always until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) In addition, His Scripture assures us, “He
will give a command to his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your
ways. They will lift you up in their
hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” (Psalm
91:11-12) The Lord assures His faithful
ones, “Be strong and courageous. Do
not be terrified and do not be overwhelmed, because the Lord your God is with
you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)
So, what is the message for us going
forward? Continue in the path God gives
you knowing that He is controlling all things for your everlasting good (as we
heard in our Epistle lesson). The Lord
calls us to remain faithful to His Word, and to continue gathering with our
fellow believers around the Word and Sacrament.
It is in God’s promises that we have our greatest comfort and hope. The writer to the Hebrews encourages us, “Let
us not neglect meeting together, as some have the habit of doing. Rather, let us encourage each other, and all
the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25) We are encouraged the most by hearing the
message of Christ crucified on our behalf, who was raised to life again in
total victory over evil, sin, death, and the devil.
Do you want to spend time together with your
Lord and Savior? Jesus promised, “Where
two or three have gathered together in my name, there I am among them.” (Matthew
18:20) Therefore, the balm for our
loneliness is not found in keeping ourselves away from others, but in gathering
with our brothers and sisters in the faith and reaching out to other hurting
souls with the Good News of all Jesus has done for us. Do you want to spend more time with your
children and, especially, eternity with them in heaven? Do not neglect to pray for them, continually,
whether they are currently strong in the Christian faith or wandering in the
darkness of the world. Reach out to the
lost with love and kindness while always walking in true faith with the Lord of
all.
Dear friends, we live in some scary times. It is easy to look around and see little but
troubled souls and mocking sinners, idol worshippers and enemies of the cross
of our Savior. Yet, we are not alone and
God’s plans are never thwarted. Still
today, the Lord preserves and keeps those who hear His Word and believe
it. In company with them, you are counted
as holy, forgiven, and welcome in the mansions of heaven, because Christ lived,
died, and rose again to make us all one family with our Savior, Jesus. Jesus declared, “If anyone loves me, he
will hold on to my word. My Father will
love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23)
Therefore, With the Lord, you are
never alone. Amen.
After you have suffered a little while, the God
of all grace, who called you into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will Himself
restore, establish, strengthen, and support you. To Him be the glory and the power forever and
ever. Amen
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